HUMAN FACTORIES
Distinction must be made, of course, in discussing the effects of
teaching methods upon children, between the various kinds of schools,
and between public instruction and private tuition. It would not be fair
to lump them all together, for the evils they produce are by no means
distributed by them in equal proportion. One must differentiate.
Fundamentally, all education is proceeding on a false principle. In this
respect it is necessary to blame education systems, institutions, school
teachers, tutors, governesses, and parents alike; for all are engaged in
keeping up an educational delusion that is working great harm to the
world in general.
But when we come to consider the amount of evil produced by each of
these factors, it will be seen at once that there is a good deal to
choose between them. The private tutor, under present methods of
teaching, is in a far better position to encourage the individual
development of a child than is the schoolmaster who has the care of a
class. Children can contend, to a certain extent, against the tyranny of
the tutor; they can force their own wishes upon his attention should
they possess the necessary strength of character. But the strongest
must succumb to the school system. Here there is no latitude to
particular pupils, no concession made to idiosyncrasies of mind or
character. The system must not be relaxed, and in consequence everybody
has to be subjected to precisely the same course of study.
Children begin to receive instruction at a very early age. The usual
plan is to take a child the moment it is able to string enough words
together to form ideas, and to subject it to a methodical process of
teaching. The custom of beginning what is called a child's education at
a tender age is verified by the fact that the State now compels, or
rather pretends to compel, parents to send their children to school at
the age of five, whilst large numbers of the children of the poor are
voluntarily sent to school at three years of age, or even younger. It
will be observed, therefore, that the State, as far as the masses of the
people are concerned, takes the child in hand at the most impressionable
period of its existence.
The instruction of infants is not a very difficult task, if all that is
aimed at is to teach them certain elementary subjects. At five years of
age children will generally learn with avidity. Their minds are just
sufficiently formed to be receptive, and as all knowledge is a blank to
them they are ready to learn anything, within the limits of their
comprehension, that the teacher may choose to put before them. This
would place upon the latter a very heavy responsibility if the matter
were left entirely to his discretion. But this is by no means the case;
the course of instruction is fixed beforehand by the school managers.
It may differ slightly in schools of varying types; but in the main it
is identical in all the essentials.
To what extent this variation may occur is, however, entirely beside the
point. What should be noted in this connection is that each school, and
for the matter of that every private teacher, has a fixed plan of
instruction which is more or less rigidly enforced. In the case of the
school, as has already been stated, no attention whatever is paid to
individual requirements. All are subjected to exactly the same process,
for better or for worse. The child, therefore, as soon as it begins to
attend school is compelled to learn certain things.
The stock subjects are reading, writing, and arithmetic. They are
necessary accomplishments in all stations of life, and education without
them would be practically impossible. I do not disparage them in the
least. But there is a good deal to be said about the method of teaching
them, and the grave error of making them the principal objective of
elementary teaching.
In this connection it is both interesting and instructive to note a
significant alteration in the Day School Code issued by the Board of
Education. Until quite recently reading, writing, and arithmetic were
classed under the Code as 'obligatory subjects' in infant schools.
Article 15 of the Code now reads: 'The course of instruction in infant
schools and classes should, as a rule, include--Suitable instruction,
writing, and numbers,' etc. Compare this with the same passage contained
in former Codes. 'The subjects of instruction,' it runs, 'for which
grants may be made are the following: (a) OBLIGATORY SUBJECTS--Reading,
writing, arithmetic; hereinafter called "the elementary subjects,"' etc.
This amendment is a recognition of the fact that nothing can be more
detrimental to education than hard-and-fast rules. It is a protest
against the general assumption that the curricula of schools must be of
a more or less uniform pattern, and puts an end to the absurdity of the
central authority prescribing subjects to be taught in all elementary
schools, regardless of varying circumstances or the possibility of
improved methods of teaching.
Formerly the pernicious custom existed of examining the pupils, at the
annual visit of the inspector, in stereotyped subjects. Matthew Arnold,
reporting to the Education Department in 1867, observed: 'The mode of
teaching in the primary schools has certainly fallen off in
intelligence, spirit, and inventiveness during the four or five years
which have elapsed since my last report. It could not well be otherwise.
In a country where everyone is prone to rely too much on mechanical
processes, and too little on intelligence, a change in the Education
Department's regulations, which, by making two-thirds of the Government
grant depend upon a mechanical examination, inevitably gives a
mechanical turn to the school teaching, a mechanical turn to the
inspection, is, and must be, trying to the intellectual life of the
school. In the inspection the mechanical examination of individual
scholars in reading a short passage, writing a short passage, and
working two or three sums, cannot but take the lion's share of room and
importance, inasmuch as two-thirds of the Government grant depend upon
it.... In the game of mechanical contrivances the teachers will in the
end beat us; and as it is now found possible, by ingenious preparation,
to get children through the Revised Code examination in reading,
writing, and ciphering without their really knowing how to read, write,
and cipher, so it will with practice no doubt be found possible to get
the three-fourths of the one-fifth of the children over six through the
examination in grammar, geography, and history without their really
knowing any one of these three matters.'
Throughout the whole of his career as an inspector of elementary schools
Arnold had to reiterate this complaint again and again. He saw the
incentive to cramming provided by the mode of distributing the grants,
and he perceived the uselessness of the type of instruction engendered
by it.
To-day all this has been changed. There is no such thing now as a
compulsory annual examination in the three elementary subjects. It has
been finally abolished by the central authority. The duty of the
inspectors is no longer to examine the children, but to investigate the
methods of teaching, the qualifications of the teachers, and so forth.
They are, it is true, empowered to examine children when they think it
advisable to do so; but they are directed to use this power sparingly,
and in exceptional cases.
The Department at Whitehall does not, unfortunately, exist for the
purpose of abolishing education systems. It has been called into
existence for the sole purpose of distributing grants of public money in
aid of elementary education and for the support of training-colleges for
teachers. The exercise of this function has necessitated the framing of
a code of regulations to be observed by schools wishing to qualify
themselves for the grant. This code is revised each year, and has
undergone some remarkable changes of late. There is a distinct tendency
to make it as elastic as possible, with the obvious aim of encouraging
variety in the schools and in the methods of teaching.
For an example of this tendency one need only compare the present
conditions attaching to the payment of the principal grant to infant
schools with those that were in force a few years ago. The higher grant
was formerly given if the scholars were taught under a certificated
teacher, or under a teacher not less than eighteen years of age,
approved by the inspector, and in a room properly constructed and
furnished for the instruction of infants. There was also a proviso that
the infants should be taught 'suitably to their age.' The new code
contains the following regulation:
'A principal grant of 17s. or 16s. is made to infant schools and
classes. The Board shall decide which, if either, of these grants shall
be paid after considering the report and recommendation of the inspector
upon each of the following four points: (a) The suitability of the
instruction to the circumstances of the children and the neighbourhood;
(b) the thoroughness and intelligence with which the instruction is
given; (c) the sufficiency and suitability of the staff; (d) the
discipline and organization.'
Working in this spirit, the Board of Education is able to mitigate some
of the evils of a State system. But it cannot attack them at the roots
without initiating a complete revolution. Out and out reforms of this
kind are only politically practicable when they are demanded by the
irresistible voice of a strong public opinion. The public are misled as
to the true issues by the intrigues of political parties. The conflict
is narrowed down by party politicians, who have particular interests to
serve, to a mere squabble about school boards, voluntary schools, local
authorities, and religious instruction.
The consequence is that these side issues have come to be regarded as
the great education question of the day. It is not easy to stir up any
deep feeling about the comparative merits of the two classes of
elementary schools. Most people do not care a jot whether their children
go to one or the other. It is not the masses who agitate about
denominational or secular teaching, but those limited classes who have
some direct interest in matters affecting religion.
But who would not cast aside their lethargy, if they were made to
understand that the question to be decided is not whether this or that
type of school should be supported, but whether the present system of
education should be entirely discarded in favour of an altogether new
plan? that behind all these petty controversies lie great issues,
affecting the fundamental principles of education, which must be pushed
to the front unless the degeneration of the race--an inevitable result
of the present educational method--is to be continued indefinitely?
Let people consider for a moment what is effected by the present system.
The child, as we have seen, is taken by the State at an early age and
subjected, for the most part, to a careful drilling in the three
elementary subjects. There is no harm in knowing how to read and write;
it is a very necessary accomplishment. A little arithmetic is also
indispensable to the fulfilment of many of the commonest duties of
everyday life. But, apart from the iniquity of cramming or forcing the
brain in a particular direction, it must be recollected that by imposing
certain subjects upon the undeveloped mind of a child, others are
necessarily excluded. The process therefore, when rigidly carried out,
has very serious and far-reaching effects. It prevents the development
of the mind in any direction but that which is being enforced.
The harm done to the individual child by this means is incalculable. On
the very threshold of the development of its faculties according to
natural instincts this development is violently arrested by an
artificial operation. Nor does the evil end here. This interference with
Nature is carried on throughout the whole school career of the child,
and the tradition flourishes in a modified form in the colleges and
universities. It is, in fact, the vital principle of modern education.
These schools in which the children of the people are taught are nothing
more than factories for turning out a uniformly-patterned article. They
do not succeed in their object of conferring what is called an
education upon their pupils, but they contrive to drive out all original
ideas without implanting any useful knowledge in their place. The
general result of this wholesale manufacture of dummies will be dealt
with directly. The intention here is merely to point out that the
practical working of the machinery of State education is to check the
natural development of the mind, and to unfit those whom it has
victimized, not only for one, but for all occupations that demand manual
dexterity or practical intelligence.